Knitting machine



(No Model.) 3 sheets-sheet 1.

C. E. DREW.

KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 342,339. Patented May 25, 1886."

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C. E. DREW. KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 342,339. Patented May 25, 1886.

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C. E..DREW.

KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented May 25, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

CHARLES E. DREW, OF VOONSOOKERR. I., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GEORGE H. BAKER AND AMOS A. PEVEY, BOTH OF SAME PLAOE.

KNlTTlNG-MACHINE.

SPECIPCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 342,339, dated May 25, 1886.

Application filed October 17, 1884. Serial No. 145,788.

To all whoml t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. DREW, of Woonsocket, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented new and usefullmprovementsinKnittingMachines, of which the following is a specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view representing my 1o improvements, parts being represented as broken away and other parts in section. Fig. 2 is a side view thereof, partly in section. Fig. 3 is an end View thereof, partly in section. Fig. 4 `is an end view of a part of a knitting-machine provided with a racking attachment. Fig. 5 is a front view of the eamplate, as heretofore constructed. Fig. (ishows a part of my devices for automatically shifting the tumbler-cam. Fig. 7 is a rear'viewof 2o the cam-plate with my slide-plate attached.

The Lamb knitting-'machine described in Letters Patent No.39,934, dated September 15, 1863, and No. 50,369, dated October l0, 1865, is often provided with the racking attachment described in Letters Patent No. 248,795,

dated October 25, 18531,- and the cani attachment described in Letters Patent No. 267,982, dated November 21, 1882. Thus provided the Lamb machine is both practical and useful,

3o but as the racking attachment as well as the cam attachment have hithereto been operated by hand an attendant has ordinarily been required for each machine. Hitherto it has been customary to connect a counter-dial to the sliding frame of the knitting-machine to inform the operator when to shift the fingerpiece d of Fig.5, that moves the tumbler-cam, and when to shift the finger-piece 7L of Fig. 4 that throws the racking attachment into or out 4o of gear, as either or both are employed in the knitting of the courses.

The object of my invention is to control automatically the racking attachment referred to and the tumbler-cam of the cam attachment referred to.

By means of my invention, hereinafter dcscribed, a single operator may attend to a large number of knitting-machines.

' My invention consists in a controlling-cam 5o adapted by connecting parts to shift the tum- (No model.)

bler-cam, and also to throw into an d out of gear the racking attachment.

The shaft B is the cranked driving-shaft usual in machines of this class, and its crank is connected by a pitman-rod to the cani-carriage in the usual way. Each revolution of shaft B corresponds to a course of stitches, except in knitting the Derby stitch, where it corresponds to a double course-that is, a course of Derby is knitted when the carriage 6o is moved from left to right, and another course when it is moved back; but in the Cardigan stitch a full stroke of the carriage in both directions is required to make one course. Gonsequently for each double course of Derby or single course of Cardigan stitches the controlling cam A, having ratchet teeth on its circumference, is revolved by means of eccentric ai* on shaft B, arm a, and pawl a2 a required distance, pawl c5 preventing con- 7c; trollingcam A from turning in an opposite direction when pawl a2 is thrown back. The recesses a and al are formed in the face of the controlling -cam, and in turn receive the end of the rod as, when, by the rotation of the controlling-,cam A the recesses are successively presented, the rod .8 being then pushed forward by its spring af. As rod c enters either recess c6 or al, it draws link al" toward the controlling-cam A. As the other 8o end of link am is connected withy arm d5, rig idly fixed to the rock-shaft (1*, the movement of link al causes the rock-shaft d" to rock in one direction. The rock-shaft d" is provided with the projections or stops (Z2 and d3, which 8 5 are not, however, in line with each other. When this rock-shaft is turned by rod c23 entering a recess in the controlling-cam, one of the stops d2 d is brought into the path of the sliding plate al. This sliding plate d is pro- 9o vided with the slots m, through which pass the studs n. -These studs are Vsecured in the arms i, which are secured to the cam-plate D, plate d sliding on the studs. The cam-plate D, to which the sliding plate d is thus connected, reeiprocates over the needle-bed N in a wellknown way, and of course carries with it the sliding plate d. \Vhen one end of sliding plate d comes in contact with either of the stops d2 or d3 presented by the rock-shaft, the Ioo movement of the sliding plate is arrested,

though cam-plate D travels on. This continued movement of part D after part d is brought to rest moves the tumbler-cam shifter d, one end of which is connected to the sliding plate d by screw p. Thus the tumblercam 7c is automatically set in one of its two well -known positions-one its position for making the Derby, the other its position for making the Cardigan stitch. (See Patent No. 267,982, above referm d to.) In this position it is retained until the rod as is pushed out of recess by the rotation of controlling-cam A, whereby tumbler-cam k is caused to be set in its other position by a reversed motion of all the parts connecting it to the controlling-cam. 'lhetumbler-cam remains in the position given it so long as rod as remains unmoved, and this depends on the construction of controllingcam A, as hereinafter explained. Yhen rod as is pushed out of recess a or al, it is forced back against its spring, and so remains with one end bearing against the plane surface of cam A until one of the recesses is again presented.

When the racking attachment described in Patent No. 248,795, above referred to, is attached to a Lamb knitting-machine and thrown into gear, the stitches knitted are racked77 1n Fig. 4 is seen the main gear-wheel G of this racking attachment, which has hitherto been thrown into and out of action by means of pinion F', clutch portion F, gland g, and iinger-piece h, which are also seen in Fig. 4. To throw this racking attachment into and out of gear automatically, and also to properly relate its operation to the action of sliding plate d', I have recessed the face of controllingcam Aatf andf, into which recesses in turn rod f" is pushed by its springf3 when either recess is presented. As rod f2 is connected to one end of link fandlink f is fast to one end of theleverf,whichis adapted to move the clutch portion F both against and away from its gland g,thc movement of rod f2 toward controlling-cam A throws pinion F on clutch portion F into gear with the gear-wheel G of the racking attachment, which is thereby brought into operation. Vhen rod f 2 is moved against the action of the spring f 3, (by the recesses f and]C5 traveling past the end of rod f2) its linkf causes leverfto move portion F away from its gland g, and to throw pinion F out of gear with gear-wheel G; and when either recess f4 or f5 is brought again into place, the end of rod f2 is thrown into it by the spring f 3, and thereby pinion F thrown into gear with gear-wheel G.

In order to properly relate the operation of the racking attachment and of the cam attachment to each other,to enable the machine provided with these attachments to knit automatically at the proper moment the style of stitch produced by the use of these attachments, and to dispense with the counter-dial, I make the controlling-cam A of various sizes and with a varying number of teeth. As each tooth corresponds to a course of stitches, it is necessary to make the recesses a al f4f5 bear a certain relation to each other and to the teeth. What this relation should be depends, of course, on the article to be knitted. For example, if ten courses of the style of stitch knitted when rod as is in recess al are wanted, then recess al must embrace ten teeth; and if iifty courses of the style of stitch knitted when rod a8 is out of recess al are next wanted,then there must be iifty teeth between recess al and recess a. Vhen the tumbler-cam k is in4 the position indicated by the solid lines in Fig. 7, the needles are so guided as to knit a Derby stitch, and when in the position indicated by the broken lines, the needles are so guided as to knit a plain half-Cardigan stitch. W'hen the racking attachment is in gear,a plain half- Cardigan stitch is racked. Thus it is seen that with my improved devices the tumblercam is automatically shifted and the racking attachment automatically thrown into or out of gear at intervals, to change the stitch after knitting any desired number of courses, the count being effected by the number of teeth embraced by the recesses on the controllingcam and by the number of teeth between the recesses.

The description of the knitting of a mittenblank, for example, will further discover the object and utility of my invention.

Beginning at the finger end (though it may as well be begun at the wrist end) there are usually knitted in all sizes of mittens eight (8) courses of Derby, or one and one rib stitches; then follow, say,` one hundred and eighteen (118) courses of half-Cardigan or plain stitches composing the hand; sixteen (16) courses of Derby stitches, which are sohighly elastic that this part of the mitten hugs the 4wrist closely; then twelve (12) courses of racked, next twelve (12) of plain, and in a long wrist, eight (8) racked and twelve (12) of plain additional. The wrist end of the mitten is ended off with, say, twelve (12) courses of racked stitchesthat is, a half-Cardigan stitch is made-one needle-plate reciprocating so that each needle in that plate passes up first to the right and then to the left of the corresponding needle in the other plate. This racked stitch will not ravel from the upper part of the wristtoward the hand, and therefore an endless web of mitten-blanks or the like may be made, which, when cut apart, will have what is called a selvage edge on the upper part of the wrist. The length of wrist and hand vary with the size, but the small part of the wrist varies only a course or two, fourteen (14) courses of Derby being usual for the smaller sizes, iifteen (15) for intermediate, and sixteen (16) for large. It has already been noted that the tumbler-cam,when in one position, causes the half-Cardigan stitch and when in the other position the Derby.

The advantages arising from the use of my devices effecting automatic action of the machine will be obvious on considering the op- IOO eration as heretofore carried out--for eXaml bier-cam or with the moving member of the 2o ple, in the knitting of a mitten.

The operator would first note on the counter-dial or keep count mentally of the number of courses knitted-say eight (8)-with the tumbler-cam in position to make the desired stitch for the small end of the mitten; then stop the machine and shift the tumbler-cam to its second position, in which, say, one hundred and eighteen courses would be knitted, count being kept as before; then stop the machine and again shift the tumbler-cam to knit afew courses; then move the clutch to throw the racking attachment into or out of gear by moving the clutch the other way, and so on, always keeping count of the stitches.

The mechanism for intermittently rotating the controlling-cam and the mechanism for connecting the controlling-cam with the tumclutch of the racking attachment may obviously be varied to suit the taste of the constructor.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The tumbler-cam k and the controllingcam A, in combination with the actuating mechanism a3 a B and the connectingmechanism as a al d d d2 cl3 d* d5, substantially as described.

2. The pinion F and clutch the racking attachment and the controllingcam A, in combination with the actuating mechanism a2 a3 a4 B and the connecting mechanism f f f" f3, substantially as described.

` C. E. DREW. Witnesses:

J. U. GIGURE, GEO. W. ANDREWS.

portion F of 3o 

